For many decades people have mounted accessories to weapons via structures such as dovetail sections or prismatic rails that are coupled to, or constructed on, the weapon. In such circumstances, a complementary base may be slipped over the rail and coupled thereto via mechanical fasteners such as screws. For example, this is a well-known construction used for so-called “slip-on assemblies” such as telescopic sights on low performance rifles. The base may also be clamped to the sectional rail via a lever. Use of such a lever is known, for instance, for more demanding and/or larger telescopic sight assemblies, for example, for military rifles such as the German G 43. The German 43 also comes standard with a dovetail section laterally on the breech box.
However, all of these attachments have one feature in common, namely, the fact that breaking points are quickly reached with stress fit or press fit connections. Only recently has the practice of mounting sectional rails with a considerable width on the front side of firearms gained acceptance (usually with rifles or submachine guns, but also in the context of semi-automatic pistols or even crossbows). These sectional rails usually exhibit transverse slots exposed to the outside for the attachment of many possible different accessories. These sectional rails are called “Picatinny rails” and usually consist of plastic or reinforced plastic. For this reason, Picatinny rails weigh as little as the much smaller dovetail rails, but are able to absorb considerably more force than dovetail rails. Consequently, Picatinny rails are suitable for mounting both relatively small telescopic sights and larger firing guide units or the like. The large dimensions of the rail and the complementary base reduce the occurring surface pressure. This is of particular advantage in the case of heavy accessories. Picatinny rails can be mounted on the top, on the sides, and/or on the bottom of a weapon. The connection between the Picatinny rail and the weapon is usually detachable.
A disadvantage that occurs particularly with rapid fire weapons is that the hand that grasps under the hand guard does not have sufficient grip to adequately and reliably control and aim the weapon. This problem is manifested in, for example, in submachine guns such as the German MP 38/40. While the MP 38/40 does include a ribbed hand guard, marksmen regularly grasp the magazine instead of the hand guard because they can hold and control the weapon better with this alternative grip. The alternative grip also enables the shooter to pull the weapon into the shoulder better.
Attempts have been made to improve the grasping and holding of a weapon with two hands by providing an additional handle or a similar folding construction. For example, the Romanian version of the Soviet Kalashnikov AK 47 rifle was modified to include a pistol grip on the wooden front stock. This pistol grip served as an additional handle to facilitate control of the weapon. In another example, an additional handle or similar folding construction was added to the Beretta rapid-firing pistol Mod. 93 R so that the pistol could be held with two hands. This two handed grip improved the grasp a marksmen could have on the weapon.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,807 (“the '807 patent”) describes a grip with a tripod that can be slipped onto a rail on the front of the rifle. Further, the Internet publication XP-002284888 makes it clear that a grip mounted to a Picatinny rail was already known on the application date, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,848 describes a grip on the front stock of a front stock loader (pump action).
All of the figures show the same example grip. The reference symbols apply for all of the figures, but may, for clarity's sake, not be used in every figure.